Whitehead, Rogers Favored in Cycle Race

Rebecca Twigg Whitehead, 1984 Olympic silver medalist, and Thurlow Rogers, six-time U.S. national champion, are the favorites in the Subaru Cycling Invitational Sunday in Beverly Hills.

The races will be run on a 4/10-mile course with a start-finish line in front of the Rodeo Collection on Rodeo Drive. It will follow Brighton Way, Beverly Drive and Little Santa Monica Boulevard. Riders will race 75 laps for prizes totaling $25,000, a purse that makes this the richest single race in U.S. cycling history.

Rogers, of Van Nuys, is one of 225 world-class cyclists a field that will include riders from Mexico, Denmark, Great Britain, Ireland and Israel as well as members of the U.S. national team.

Opening ceremonies are scheduled for 11:30 a.m. with the women’s race starting at 11:55. A celebrity pedicab race will precede the men’s race, which is scheduled for 2:45 p.m.

More than 30,000 spectators are expected.